newsip has been raising the issue of corruption in high places for a while. There is a belief amongst many thinkers and statemen that selection to a position of power like that of a Chairman or Director on Board of a PSU should be above suspicion since corruption gets inbuilt if such a selection itself in defective. In G20 meeting also, newsip raised the issue of corruption starting with the appointment and transfer of jobs in front of the secretary of DOPT, the secretary replied at that time that you are raising a local issue on an international platform, while Union Minister Jitendra Singh had said, taking this issue seriously, the Modi government is moving forward to make further improvements.
Now to what extent is it proper that the head of the department, the secretary of DOPT, considered it a mere local issue and logically not worthy of consideration. Then appointment of senior officers in PSUs who would be tasked with dealing with Crores worth of Government money would suspect from the very beginning. The Chairman and members of PESB seem to be openly flaunting the norms of impartiality. One has to say this because time and again the decisions of PESB often remain disputed. Take the recent example of IOCL D( F) selection recently; or adding the name of another officer after deleting the name of an officer of NHPCC, Director Personnel of THDC etc. Many cases have also come to light
that complaints were registered against a particular candidate, yet his name was sent to ACC by PESB. It is another matter that ACC did not put stamp of approval against the name of that candidate.
On the other hand, if we look at UPSC there are very few isolated cases where complaints or disputes have been raised.
It is not understood why PESB is still being persisted for the appointments of PSUS and not UPSC? After all, expenditure for having another duplicate body hardly seems to serve the purpose. Yes, it is going to be different if UPSC chooses; it will always choose in the interest of the country. There is always murmurs that persons get selected based on ability to collect donations, then what is happening is fine. What difference does it make, if the cake is cut, as long as it gets distributed among all?
Experts are of the opinion that if corruption starts from the top then it destroys the whole organization. Another vivid example is the post of the Chairman of IOCL. A company included in World Fortune 500 for long. The term of current Chairman IOCL expires in August 2023. The vacancy has announced and candidates names have been invited by PESB however no date for interviews has been fixed. It one is go by the grapevine , it is being said that the current Chairman is very keen to continue beyond his retirement age and has put pressure on the members and chairman of PESB for not taking a call on selections just yet. Now you think that if PESB wants then the wish of IOCL chairman can be fulfilled, he can get extension as per his wish and it can be said that elections are about to come, code of conduct etc. is
imposed. Status quo will prevail. And if this happens, think what will happen to those poor senior employees who are waiting for their turn for interview for that post. In any case, it is being said that nowadays in IOCL,
“Whether it is ACR, or important Business Decisions the writ of Chairman prevails.” The Chairman is now CMD and Directors and HODs are mere titular heads. It’s a story of many PSUs. The employees are a demoralised and dejected lot. More than business activities, technological breakthroughs, alternate energy pursuits it’s mega event shows and cheetah releases ( some of which have even died) which are the focal points. Like we said earlier, if this is to be the fate of PSUs they should be privatized ASAP.
